IOM and Sweden

The IOM Country Office in Finland is in charge of activities and operations in Finland, Sweden and Iceland. In addition IOM Finland provides administrative and management support to the IOM offices in Denmark and Estonia.

In Sweden the activities include Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration for victims of trafficking, Reintegration Grants for voluntary returnees, resettlement of refugees to Sweden and family reunification.

Sweden is also a donor to IOM, with a focus on the sectors of humanitarian aid, governance, democracy human rights, and gender equality.

Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programme for Victims of Trafficking and Foreign Citizens in Prostitution in Sweden (AVRRTiPP-SWE)

Since 2012 the AVRRTiPP-SWE programme has provided assistance to migrants who are exposed to trafficking in human beings and/or to prostitution in Sweden. The programme supports both EU nationals and third country nationals.

Potential beneficiaries are identified and assisted by the programme’s Swedish counterparts in cooperation with IOM Finland.

Through the programme, IOM Finland supports Swedish regional anti-trafficking coordinators, different authorities, and NGOs in planning and arranging assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) in a safe, humane and sustainable manner. In addition to assisting beneficiaries in returning and reintegrating, IOM Finland supports their access to justice.

Resettlement

IOM Finland organizes the transportation for the refugees to the Nordic countries (except to Norway). This includes escorts and purchasing of clothes where needed. Before departure IOM carries out the “fitness to travel” check.

The scope of the programme is global. The programme is operated by field missions in the respective locations. IOM Finland is the programme manager.

IOM provides the services to quota refugees selected for resettlement under the framework agreement between IOM and the Swedish Migration Agency.

EU Relocation

In July 2015 EU Member States agreed to relocate asylum seekers from Member States experiencing high migratory pressure, ie. Italy and Greece. IOM Finland handles the relocation to Finland and Sweden under the scheme.

At the end of 2017 a total of 2865 persons have been relocated to Sweden.

Family Reunification

There are two kind of family reunification types – one that is realized in cooperation with agencies and another one for self-payers.

IOM Finland also provides travel arrangements and transit assistance for self-payers under the Family Reunification program.

The services provided include:

assistance in obtaining exit permits

immigration formalities and verification of travel documents

provision of travel arrangements (international and domestic)

transit assistance

Sweden’s support to IOM

In addition to the projects in the country, Sweden is also a donor to IOM’s international programmes. In 2017, Sweden contributed 15.9 million USD to IOM, the year before that the sum was more than the double: 33 million USD. Sweden is one of the countries that support IOM’s core functions by contributing unallocated funds to the organization (6.1 million UDS in 2017). These are funds that IOM can use more freely than earmarked funds.

Other big activities supported were humanitarian support, diaspora projects and the CREST programme, which supports the ethical recruitment of migrant workers.

In 2016 Sweden constributed almost 17.8 million USD to the joint support mechanism for Emerging Resettlement Countries, which has been funded to support countries that are starting their resettlement programmes. Much of the support in that year also went to humanitarian aid.